Shellfish Stock

Shellfish stock is such a simple and basic recipe, but it’s hard to find a place that will sell shells. We started saving our shrimp, crab, and lobster shells in one of these bags in the freezer.

We had to shell ten lobsters last New Year’s Eve. Where did those shells go? Into the freezer. When we make shrimp, we put those shells into the freezer. When our bag is full, we make a big pot of shellfish stock.

If you don’t make shellfish, and you want something quick and easy, we love this stock that you can order online and is shelf stable until you’re ready to open it. It’s super concentrated, which means it’s small and good for storing in a small kitchen. They also make French demi-glace, veal, rendered duck fat, and roasted chicken concentrates that we’ve used and love.

We like to store our shellfish stock in mason jars in the refrigerator if we’re going to use it within a day or two. If we plan to use it later, we let it cool in the mason jars, and then store it in these. Use this tape and a sharpie to write what it is and the date you made it (you’ll for sure forget 3+ months later). We lay the bags of stock flat in the freezer until frozen and then they can be stacked sideways.